In the past, the collection of evidence at accident scenes has always been piecemeal at best. The present technology is limited to the matching of such items as car parts, paint, etc. in order to determine the make and model of a vehicle.
Additionally, because of the split second time frames (and the trauma that can often be associated with such an event), eyewitness accounts of what transpired can either be unreliable in nature or non-existent.
To solve the above problems, the present invention would employ a novel use of a present technology in the investigation of motor vehicle accidents. The technology referred to in this application is commonly known as “taggants.”
Taggants (i.e. visible or invisible indicia used to mark a product for the purposes of identification and/or verification) are often used for such essential tasks as tracking the shipment of goods, inventory control, document authentication, etc.
By using radio frequency identifier devices or “RFID's” as the above named taggants, it will now be possible to identify drivers who are involved in “hit and run” accidents.
More specifically, by the use of RFID's that would be left at the scene of such accidents, it will now be possible to bring to justice those who commit these “hit and run” crimes. A particularly gratifying use of this invention would be in bringing to justice those who commit the most heinous of these crimes: ones involving personal injury and death.
“Hit and run accidents in the United States have increased fifteen percent over the past five years. On average, motor vehicles are involved in 3.5 million hit and run accidents each year. Hit and run accidents account for one in five pedestrian fatalities . . . ” (From a report compiled by the National Center For Statistics and Analysis and released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Apr. 22, 2003.)